A Hacker's Fists
by Maxforce
Summary: There's always a few in every batch. Players who learn to change the code. Hackers. And at least one was in the beta test for SAO.
1. Chapter 1

An alarm clock rang, disturbing the rest of a figure bundled up under his blankets. He lazily reached out a hand, slamming the clock, turning it off. He laid there for a couple more minutes before sighing and sitting up. "Geez. It's already that day, huh?" he asked himself. He stood up and stretched a little before walking over to his desk. His custom rig took up the entirety of the space on the top of the desk and then some. Wires were everywhere, three monitors lined up, while two towers rested to either side of the desk. He leaned over the desk, reaching for the NerveGear on the top shelf, pulling it down, smiling. "It's been…three months, I think." He hooked it up to the tower on the right, double checking the connections between the two towers themselves. He put the NerveGear on, laying back down on his bed, smirking to himself as the clock reached 13:00. "Link…start." After the NerveGear performed basic startup tests and the basic login, he was greeted by his beta profile.

**Kensei(M)**

He confirmed the profile and once more, opened his eyes to see the world of Sword Art Online. His character stood out quite a bit, with shocks of blue and green in the hair. He was only about five feet and ten inches tall, his armor the same starting armor as everyone elses. He looked down at himself, clenching and unclenching his fists, smiling. "Fuck yeah. It's good to be back."

* * *

He looked out over the pastures of the first floor, smiling. "As beautiful as the last time I saw it." His ear twitched as he heard a familiar voice. He turned around and walked up to the top of the hill. When he got to the top, he saw another beta tester who he had done a few dungeon crawls with during beta, Kirito. He was with an obviously new player with red hair, explaining skills to him. Kensei hung back, watching as the red headed man slew a boar with his skill. He decided to walk up and say hi after a bit when he saw that they were going to continue doing a little training. "Kirito!" he called out, walking down the hill. Kirito turned, spotting Kensei.

"Kensei?" he asked. Kensei smiled, holding out his hand.

"Long time no see, man," he laughed, shaking Kirito's hand enthusiastically. "Helping out a new player, eh?" He turned to the red head. "Yo. Name's Kensei. You?"

"I'm Kleine. Nice to meet you," the red head introduced himself.

"Back 'atcha. So, what brings you two out here? Teaching him the skill system?"

"Yeah. Just the basics of it," Kirito confirmed. Kensei laughed.

"Least he got it in a couple tries. My first time trying it was hell. Anyways, mind if I join you two for some training?"

"I'm fine with that."

"Me, too," Kleine added. He then eyed Kensei, looking up and down. "Um…where's your weapon at, Kensei?"

"Right here," Kensei said, holding up his hands.

"Huh?"

Kirito chuckled, remembering his own reaction to Kensei the first time they met. "Kensei is one of the few players in SAO that fights with his fists. There _is_ a reason for his name," Kirito explained.

"Sure, blades are fun," Kensei said, cracking his knuckles. "But with just fists, I can do so much more."

"Like what?" Kleine asked.

"This," Kensei replied before grabbing Kleine's arm and twisting him around, putting him in an armbar. "I can do more than just punch and kick, after all. Grapple moves are an essential for me. Go on. Try and get out of this." Kleine struggled for about a minute before giving up.

"Alright, fair point," Kleine said as Kensei released his grip on him, rolling his shoulder. "You've got a vice grip, man." Kensei rubbed his wrist.

"Damn straight," Kensei laughed, nodding. "Hey, I know a great spot for training at these levels. And it's got an amazing view of the sunset!" After a few hours, Kleine and Kensei were sitting on the ground, Kirito standing, all watching the setting sun.

"Wow," Kleine said, in awe. "What a beautiful sight."

"Yeah. Sure wish I could find a place like this back home," Kensei said.

"Back home?"

"Yeah, in America. I moved to Japan just a few years ago, but it still isn't quite home for me."

"Well, it's been fun guys, but I've got a pizza comin' in a few," Kleine said as he stood up. "I'm gonna eat, then hop back on with my pals. Hope to see you around."

"Sure thing, Kleine," Kensei said, standing up as well, brushing off his pants.

"Um…hey, guys, can you log off?" Kleine asked, his menu in front of him.

"It should be right there in the main menu," Kirito said, bringing up his own. "Right he-"

"Kirito?" Kensei asked. He brought up his own menu, navigating to where the logout button was. But it was blank. Kensei looked up as Kleine and Kirito began to discuss the possibility of a bug, Kleine making theories of how to get out, Kirito debunking them. Kensei closed his menu and turned around, raising his right hand and making a small horizontal slash with it. A new menu showed up, one that didn't exist for other players, save for a few beta testers Kensei had worked with before. It was a menu created by a group of four hackers, five when Kensei was included. He sighed in relief to see that his hacked logout button was still there. He closed the menu, turning back around. "I'm sure Kleine's right, Kirito. It's just a bug. I'm sure it'll be patched by the end of the day. In the meantime, we're better off spamming the crap out of the GM and the developers to let them know about the problem. We can't be the only ones to know about it." Later that day, Kensei was running by himself to the next town, killing monsters along the way. The world of Sword Art Online had literally become the new reality for ten thousands players. "Akihiko's a mad man," Kensei said to himself, flipping a wolf onto its back, slamming his fist into its throat. "You die in the game, you die for real, huh?" Kensei stopped in his tracks as the words of Kayaba Akihiko finally hit him full force. He clenched his fist, his nails digging into his bare palm until blood flowed. He winched. "It…it really is true," he said. He raised his right hand, bringing up the hacked menu. He navigated to the logout button, going to hit it, but stopped. "But…what about the others…" He stood there, frozen, before closing the menu down. "No…no, I can't leave until I'm sure I can get others out of here…there must be a way…" He moved to the side of the road, bringing up his message inbox. He composed a message, copying it and then pasting it three times more, sending it to the four other hackers he had met. He told them to meet him at the next town, to beat the rush of new players who didn't know the layout of the first few floors like the beta testers did. He got back on the road and began to run once more. "Alright. I'll meet up with them and talk strategy. We'll figure this out…"

* * *

**First try with a SAO fic. This was an idea I had months ago, but never really acted upon it until recently. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up with this fic. No promises, though.**


	2. Chapter 2

Kensei looked up as the door to the tavern opened. He had been one of the first to arrive in the town and he had been keeping an eye on people entering, looking for anything that would tell him if any of the players were part of the group he was meeting with. This time, it was a female player, a young woman with mid-back length black hair, her eyes a chocolate hazel color. Her armor was also the basic leather starting set, though colored crimson, highlights of light yellow on the shoulders and thighs. On her back was a bladed staff. She seemed to be looking for someone, so Kensei waved his hand on a whim. "Kensei?" she asked as she walked up to him after spotting him, grabbing a chair.

"That would be me," he said. "Hmm…that voice…Catalina?" She nodded, smiling in relief as she sat down in the chair. He looked at her, silence permeating the space between them. She began to blush lightly.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, her hands held tightly in her lap as she shifted uncomfortably.

Kensei shook his head, shrugging. "Just wondering why you'd want to hide how pretty you are," he smirked, leaning forward to rest his chin in his right hand. "Now I'm kinda glad that Kayaba made that mirror item." Her blush deepened. She let her gaze fall to the floor, her hair cascading to cover her face. Kensei grinned. She had always had interesting reactions and Kensei admitted that he did find them to be cute. Most of the time. There were times, however, he wished to be anywhere but in the same area as her. She had some anger issues she had been working on during the beta.

"What about you?" she asked. "I wasn't sure if it was you, because of that mirror changing everyone else."

"People never expect you to make your avatar look like yourself," Kensei explained. "It makes real life meet-ups easier for me, though." Kensei's avatar was roughly the same, the only noticeable changes being his actual muscle build. The game had one of the most extensive character creation systems around, but one could only stay at the creation stage for so long before getting bored.

"So…your hair actually is that color?" Katalina asked, looking up, her blush now gone.

"Well, it isn't my natural color, but yeah," he said, holding a lock and staring at it out of the corner of his eye, "this is the color it is." He looked over at the door as it opened, perking up. "And that must be Shino." Catalina turned to look at the newcomer. He was dressed in all black, his clothing just cloth, no leather to speak of. His hair was jet black and combed back, his eyes a brilliant blue. On his belt were throwing knives, a tanto on his right thigh. The lower half of his face was covered by a scarf. She waved, catching his attention and he walked over.

"Kensei?" he asked, looking pointedly at the fist-fighter, who nodded. "And her?"

"Catalina," she answered. He nodded, satisfied. He took a seat on Kensei's right, straddling the chair as he crossed his arms and rested them on the back, letting his head rest on them.

"Long run?" Kensei asked sympathetically.

"Well…let's just say that the crowds were killer," Shino said, looking at Kensei with his left eye, his right eye closed. Kensei grimaced, Catalina looking at Kensei with a confused look. Catalina was probably the most innocent of the entire group and so didn't fully understand what Shino's statement was implying.

Kensei shook his head at her, mouthing 'I'll explain later'. She shrugged, not voicing her question.

"Fuck, I can't wait for this day to be over," Shino groaned. "I'd love to wake up and this just be some sorta nightmare." Kensei looked at Shino before pinching his arm, hard. "Ow! The fuck was that for?!"

"Checking to see if it was a dream for you," Kensei shrugged, laughing. Shino glared at him before resting his head back on his forearms. "Still a grouch, then," Kensei mumbled, crossing his arms. "So, any word from Serena or Jack? They never replied to my messages to meet here."

"I had met up with Jack on first login," Shino said, looking up. "Last I saw him was in the plaza. We got the message and he told me to go on ahead of him. And Serena…well, we _were_ talkin' on the old forums just before login. She'd been playin' around with some of the old code from the beta, apparently. Maybe she got lucky and just missed the login before this all went down."

"Unfortunately, I'm not that lucky, Shino," a female voice said, followed by an exaggerated sigh. "Now I'm wishin' I had just kept playing with the coding." The speaker was a red head, her hair shoulder length and her eyes blue, like Shino's. A mace was strapped to her hip, her lower half covered by an ankle length skirt that was a deep blue, her upper body covered by a lighter blue leather wrap, a white long sleeved shirt under the wrap. She grabbed a chair from the table to the side, flopping onto it, seated beside Catalina. Serena raised her palms up, shaking her head. "Never thought this would happen. Not in a million years." Just behind Serena was the last member of the group, Jack.

His weapon of choice, a spear, was on his back, his brown hair spiked here and there and his green eyes were steeled. His outfit was similar to Serena's, though he wore pants rather than a skirt. He was also wearing fingerless gloves, the gloves a dirty brown. "Can any of us actually confirm that Kayaba was telling the truth about what happens in the real world?" he asked, choosing to lean on the table beside the one everyone else was seated at.

"Yes, unfortunately," Serena replied. She made the same motion Kensei had at the training fields, navigating her own custom menu before multiple windows appeared around her. All of them were from news sources, concerning the current situation connecting the deaths of SAO players to the game itself. "And, from what I've managed to gather, everything will be going dark for us in about an hour and a half. Kayaba's giving authorities about two hours to set people up on life support."

Jack nodded, his expression grim. "Kensei, you're the only one who took the time to actually code a separate logout button. Did you try it?"

"No," Kensei replied. "I couldn't just leave you guys and thousands of other people in here. Besides, what if the system reads it as an unauthorized logout? I'd get fried in the real world. I'm safer sticking in here than just trying to run."

"But what if it did work?" Jack asked. "You'd be our best bet at getting out. You can do more out there to mess with the coding than we can in here."

"Not a problem," Kensei replied, bringing out his custom menu. He navigated to a hidden inventory, opening for a trade with all four of his friends. A red window appeared in front of each of them and they accepted the trade. Kensei put in a few taps and sent the item.

Jack looked at the item, before looking back up at Kensei, the others soon staring at him as well. "You coded a hacking item into the game?" Shino asked. "Why?"

"Why not?" Kensei replied. "I got tired of having to exit out of the game to mess around with stuff, so I took about a week from the game to make it. I'm actually surprised it wasn't caught during the final stages of debugging. But anyways, now we can at least do something while we're stuck here."

"Yeah, except get the bits of code we actually need to survive," Serena said. "You know, the ones that tell the Nerve Gear when to fry out brains? The important stuff."

"So we'll work around that," Kensei said, shrugging.

"You seem to be taking this rather well," Jack said. Again, Kensei shrugged.

"For now, I guess," Kensei answered. He then stood up, stretching. "Look, it's getting late now. I'm getting tired, you guys are getting tired. Let's get some rooms at the inn and just wait until tomorrow to figure out something more concrete." He looked around the group. "Well?" Jack sighed, nodding.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, stifling a yawn. "But I suggest we keep the whole hacking thing under wraps for now. We're going to have trouble if people find out about that stuff."

"Oh, come on, it's not like we ever did it for stat boosting or leveling," Catalina whined.

"But the people don't know that, Cat," Kensei explained, putting his hands on her shoulders and steering her out the door, the rest of the group following. "Now come on, I'm ready to hit the hay. Let's just get the rooms set up and we'll talk more tomorrow."

* * *

**So, everyone one introduced in this chapter belong to me. Odds are, one or two may not make it through to the end, but we'll see how it goes.**


	3. Chapter 3

Kensei sat up, yawning as he scratched at his head. "Boy, what a dream," he said, standing up as he walked to the bathroom door, opening it and walking in, lifting the toilet lid.

"What was your dream about?" Shino asked from the table in the room, he and Jack reading news articles from the outside world.

"Well, see, I dreamt that I logged into SAO," Kensei said, Jack and Shino hearing the sound of liquid hitting liquid. "And I met up with Kirito-you know him, he was that guy who was usually a solo player, I think I introduced you guys once-anyways, met up with him, then after a couple hours, there was a mass teleport to the main plaza on floor 1. Kayaba Akihiko showed up and said that we were trapped in the game. If we died there, we died here. Some scary shit, man." Kensei walked back out, going back to the bed and laying down on it. "Anyways, I'm gonna grab some more sleep. Those school assignments can wait another hour or two, I think."

"How long before he remembers?" Jack asked, lazily scrolling down his article.

"Give it a bit," Shino grunted. He closed his own article and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

"Wait," Kensei said after a few minutes, sitting back up. "Shino, Jack, what are you guys doing here? And why are you cosplaying as your characters?"

"Moron," Jack snorted. "Didn't realize you were so slow in the morning, Kensei." Kensei sat up once more, holding his head in his hands.

"Fuck…then, it wasn't a dream," he said. He was gritting his teeth now, grinding them, even. "Fuck!" He slammed his fist into the night stand, destroying it, the item shattering into small blue pieces as it disappeared.

"You realize you'll be paying for that, right?" Shino asked as he walked back out of the bathroom. He sat back down, leaning his chair back and planting his feet on the table.

"Not now, Shino," Kensei growled, glaring at the ninja. He stood up, starting to pace. "Just…just give me a bit, okay?"

"Take your time," Jack replied. "By the way, more players showed up this morning in town. They're starting to catch up. We need to get moving."

"Then why tell him to take his time?" Shino pointed out.

"Just tryin' to speed the process along."

"How are you two so calm now?" Kensei asked, cracking his knuckles as he paced.

"Did my crying last night while you guys slept," Jack answered.

"I went on a walk early this morning," Shino replied. "Might have broken a couple benches."

"And you're telling me about paying for a night stand?" Kensei asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Do with that what you will," was Shino's reply. After some minutes in silence, Kensei finally stopped pacing, looking at Jack and Shino, nodding.

"Alright…I'm….I'm good for now," he said. "Let's get Cat and Serena."

* * *

Hours later, they were in the next town, all gasping for breath. They had been grinding in the fields as they were making their way and had used all of their healing items. "Okay," Shino said. "So…not everything is (huff) the same…"

"That's expected," Serena replied, standing up, the first to have caught her breath. "Beta and final product usually have some differences in them. But I didn't expect the spawns in those fields to be so high."

"Boy, a teleport crystal would have been great in there," Jack said, his hands on his knees. "We nearly died on our way here! And let's make sure to stock up on more healing items. We were _way_ too unprepared for that."

"Hey," Kensei said, his eyes lighting up with an idea. "Teleport and healing, huh?" He looked at Serena and Catalina. "Cat, Serena, you guys did a lot of digging into the item ID's, right?"

"Yep!" Catalina answered with a smile.

"Would it be possible to create a new item by mixing two different items?" Kensei asked.

"Well, it's theoretically possible," Serena said. "What did you have in mind?"

"There's an item that keeps your HP from dropping to 0, right? A second chance item that stops your health at 1 point?"

"I…believe so," Serena said. "It's an incredibly rare drop, though. I only heard rumors about it around the forums."

"Well, what if we mixed that item's properties with those of the teleport crystals?" Kensei asked. "When your HP hits 1, you're teleported to the closest safe area." Kensei grinned as Serena put her finger on her chin, tapping it.

"That's not a bad idea," Serena said. "But…I'm not sure that I can do that. Since I never found that item, I don't actually know what ID code to look for. If we find someone with it, we could offer up a trade of some kind, but I can't make any promises to actually being able to manipulate the code to the extent that you want."

"Oh," Kensei said, his expression falling as Serena finished speaking. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked over to see Catalina smiling at him.

"Don't worry, Ken," she said, nodding at him earnestly. "I'm sure Serena and I can figure something out." Kensei smiled.

"Thanks, Cat," he said, grateful for her words of comfort. "Hey, guys," he said after a few seconds of silence. "What would you say to making a small guild together?"

"A guild, huh?" Jack repeated, rubbing his chin in thought. "Well, I'm not opposed to the idea," he said, nodding. "But what would we call it? And who's going to be the leader?"

"Well, obviously, you'd be leader," Kensei said, grinning. "But I don't know about the name."

"Whoa, whoa," Jack said, putting his hands up in mock surrender. "Me? Leader?"

"Why not?" Shino asked, his arms crossed. "You always took charge in the beta. You're pretty much our leader as is. This just means that others will know you're our leader."

"Okay, I mean, I guess so," Jack answered, rubbing the back of his head. "But we still need a name, guys."

"Well, what about Sleeping Twilight?" Catalina asked. Everyone looked at her, all of them surprised. "What?"

"That name actually sounds awesome," Kensei said. "Is there any meaning to it?"

"Well, not really," Catalina admitted. "It just sorta came to me."

"Alright, then," Kensei nodded. "Then from here on, we're members of Sleeping Twilight!" Kensei stuck his fist forward. The others looked at each other and soon, their fists were touching Kensei's. Kensei was now grinning from ear to ear, his gaze sweeping across his four friends. "We can beat this game, guys! I know we can!"

* * *

A month later, Kensei was sitting in the center of the town of Tolbana, shifting on the stone seat. He had heard that someone named Diabel had called for a meeting there, claiming to have big news. He looked around, seeing Kirito was present, though separated from the rest of the players. Not that Kensei blamed him. He himself had a bit of trouble fitting in. Beta testers weren't exactly loved by the new players and few would ever admit to having ever been a beta player. "Okay," a voice said, catching Kensei's attention, "let's get started, people!" He looked up front to see a man with blue hair in blue clothing, wearing bits and pieces of knight's armor. "Thank you for coming today. My name is Diabel. I like to consider my job as Knight!" He pounded his chest with his right hand, grinning. The gathered players laughed a bit.

"There's no job system in this game," one called out.

"Then, is the meeting a joke, too?" another asked, coaxing a few more laughs out.

Diabel raised his hands, gesturing for some silence. "Now, guys, you really should take this seriously!" he said. His expression quickly grew serious. "Today, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower." Everyone grew quiet immediately, whispers slowly starting. "We need to defeat the boss, reach the second floor, and tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game. Everyone here shares this duty! Do you all agree?" Kensei nodded to himself as the others began to clap and whistle. "Okay, then let us begin our planning. First ,divide into parties of six." Kensei looked around as people began partying up, nodding once more to himself.

_Yeah, I thought as much_, he thought, shrugging. _Guess I could always run solo for this._ He looked over to see Kirito forming a party with a girl wearing a cloak. _Or, maybe Kirito's got room for one more._ He grinned, standing up and walking over to them. "Kirito," he said out loud, waving as he sat on the other side of the girl. "Got room for one more in your party, man?"

"Ah, hey, Kensei," Kirito said. "Yeah, I think we do." Kirito sent him the invite.

"Thanks," Kensei said, accepting it. "These things always run more smoothly in groups and parties, ya know?" He looked at the top left of his vision to see two extra health bars pop up. One had the Kirito's name by it, the other said Asuna. "It's a pleasure to work with you." It was then that a player with spiky orange hair jumped over them, leaping to stand just in front of Diabel. He introduced himself as Kibaou and demanded that any beta testers present empty their inventory and give it to the other players, saying it was compensation for the two thousand or so players who had died in the month since the game had started. "Tch. Guess beta testers are pretty well hated, huh?" He looked over at Kirito, who was clenching his fists. He looked like he was about to stand up when a black man stood up, asking for everyone's attention. He was wearing a breastplate over black and white clothing, a large axe on his back. He introduced himself as Agil, pulling out a small book as he continued to talk to Kibaou.

"You all received this guide book, free of charge at the item store, right?" he asked.

"Of course," Kibaou answered. "Why?"

"The information in here was compiled by beta testers." He turned to the crowd, giving the book a light slap. "Everyone one had equal access to this information. And even then, more than two thousand players have died. I had assumed that the topic for this conversation would be about what we could learn from their deaths, and how that knowledge could help us defeat the boss."

Kensei smirked, resisting the urge to clap. "I think I like this Agil guy," he said, crossing his arms as he leaned back. Agil turned to look back at Kibaou, who walked away, taking a seat. He didn't look happy, but he stayed quiet about it. Kensei began to space out as Diabel began talking again. He sighed, leaning forward this time to rest his chin in his hands. _Let's see…the first boss should be Illfang the Kobold Lord…his weapon is…uh…an axe and buckler. And he switches out to a talwar at some point. Got a bunch of smaller minions called Ruin Kobold Sentinels, I think._ Kensei gave another yawn as Diabel finished going over the plan to defeat the boss, standing up as the meeting was adjourned. He watched Asuna stand up and walk past him, leaving the small amphitheater. "Well, guess I'll see you guys tomorrow," he said, nodding to Kirito. "Better get some rest tonight. We are moving out pretty early, after all."

"Later, Kensei," Kirito said as he stood up himself. Kensei walked off, giving Kirito a lazy salute.

* * *

**Well, I already feel like the story is spiraling out of my control. I've been able to stick with it so far, but this may end up going into my indefinite hiatus archives.**


	4. Chapter 4

"So," Kensei said as the group walked through a forest, the sun streaming through the canopy of the trees, "let's go over this plan one last time."

"Yeah," Kirito said, nodding. "We're the leftovers. Our job is to target the boss's helpers, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels."

"I know," Asuna said, nodding under her hood.

"Kirito will knock their pole axes up," Kensei continued. "When he does that, you switch in with him."

"Switch…in?" Asuna asked.

"Wait," Kensei said, looking over at Kirito. "Is this the first time you've ever been in a party?"

"Yes." Kirito and Kensei slowly stopped walking, looking at each other and then at Asuna, who kept walking a few steps before noticing that her party members had stopped. She turned to look at them, while they just let their shoulders droop, sighing in unison. "What?"

"Nothing," Kensei answered. He stood up straight once more, coughing into his hand. "Anyways, continuing. You'll switch in to attack them. Meanwhile, I'll work on keeping them off of you two. I've also got spare healing items on me, so don't be shy in asking for a potion if you need one. If one of us dies, the other two could end up in trouble."

"Got it," Kirito said, Asuna nodding.

* * *

Eventually, they made it to a pair of large doors at the very top of the first floor, Diabel at the front, his sword planted in the ground in front of him. "Alright, everyone!" he said, holding up his right fist. "Let's win!" He turned around, putting his hand on the doors, pushing them slowly open. "Let's go!"

Kensei cracked his knuckles, grinning. "And so begins our first real step in beating this game," he said under his breath, Kirito smiling, having heard Kensei's statement. They made their way into the room, which was very dim. At the end, Kensei saw a throne, seeing a round shape sitting on it, a large axe sitting beside the throne. He saw two red dots appear as the boss opened its eyes, glaring at the intruders into its digital domain. As the group finished walking through the door, the floor and walls lit up, revealing the room was extremely long and wide, columns running down the sides, while the walls appeared to be made of stained glass that provided light. Illfang jumped from his throne, his buckler on his left forearm, his axe in his right hand. He roared at the players, gnashing his teeth, giving them a snarl, his name appearing above his head with a red crystal, four health bars also appearing beside the name. Smaller versions of him began spawning, clad in knight armor, their weapons looking like stone balls on the end of metal rods. _Wait a second, those aren't pole axes…what else has changed in this area from the beta?_ Kensei asked himself, getting into a simple boxing stance, Kirito and Asuna drawing their weapons, taking note that Asuna was using a rapier.

Diabel raised his sword, now holding his shield with his left hand. "Commence attack!" he yelled, swinging his sword down to point towards the enemy. The two groups, one of players literally fighting for their lives, the other the digital entities that could very well take those lives, charged each other, clashing. Diabel begin giving out commands, keeping himself in the middle of his group, giving his own support when he saw a sentinel sneak past the other parties. Kensei only partially heard what he was saying, working on keeping Kirito and Asuna covered while they took down the sentinels.

He spared a glance over at the two as he heard Kirito yell, "Switch!" Asuna ran from behind him, her rapier a blur. Kensei gave a small nod of awe, having never seen someone thrust a sword so quickly. He looked back at the sentinel he was facing off against, giving it a smirk.

_Digital it may be, but I still enjoy a good fight_, he thought to himself, moving his hands so that they were in line with his body's center, his hands glowing blue. "Alright, come at me, ya little bastard," he snarled, glaring at the sentinel. The sentinel raised its weapon, going to crush Kensei's head in. Kensei released his skill, moving his body to the side while his hands moved to the weapon, one gripping at the rod just under the ball, the other grabbing the bottom of the rod. He gave his arms a twist, yanking the weapon free of its owner's grip, flipping it so that the ball faced the sentinel. He tightened his grip and thrust it into the sentinel, throwing it to the other side of the room. He grinned. "Well, finally got the hang of that Reversal Skill."

And so the fighting continued, the parties assigned to attacking the boss slowly chipping its health away, while the defense parties continued to slay the sentinels that continued to spawn. Kensei's health potions were starting to run empty, having told the other parties that he had extra supplies in case others should run short. He was down to his very last potion, though he didn't know if Kirito or Asuna had any at all. His own health was running close to fifty percent and he refused to use the potion until it was absolutely necessary. He looked over at Illfang as it gave a roar of fury, seeing that its last health bar had finally reached red. He smiled, for once feeling that they really could beat the game and get everyone still alive out of it. Illfang threw its weapon and buckler to the side, its hand moving to behind its back. "Looks like that information was right," Kibaou said, grinning.

"Stand back!" Diabel commanded, running through the group. "I'll go." He ran at Illfang, his sword glowing yellow as he charged his skill. Kensei looked confused, seeing the same look on Kirito's face, knowing he felt the same thing.

_What happened to the plan?_ he thought. _Weren't we supposed to surround it completely?_ Illfang drew its new weapon and Kensei felt his blood run cold through his veins. _Shit! That's not a talwar! That's a goddamn nodachi!_

"Wait!" Kirito yelled, Kibaou turning to look at him. "Don't attack it! Get back!" Illfang jumped as Diabel got closer, pushing off of the top of a column to hit another one, now leaping from column to column. The entire group watched it, confused, while Diabel watched it, his skill still charged. His eyes widened as he saw Illfang leap at him, swinging its nodachi, cleaving into him, a large gash going from left shoulder to right hip. Diabel fell back, gasping in pain from the hit. Illfang jumped behind him, swatting him back behind the group with the flat of his weapon.

"Diabel!" Kibaou shouted, concerned, before Illfang jumped into their midst, roaring once again.

"Diabel!" Kirito ran over to the knight, Kensei behind him. Kirito lifted his head gently, reaching into his pocket for a health potion, finding none. Kensei tapped his shoulder with his last potion, Kirito accepting it. "Here," Kirito said, starting to tip the potion into Diabel's mouth. But Diabel stopped him, holding the potion back. "Diabel…why?" Kirito asked, confused as to why he would deny the potion.

"You…you two were beta testers…right?" Diabel asked. Kirito and Kensei both started a bit at that, looking at Diabel in surprised.

"The bonus item," Kensei said, as everything clicked into place. "You were after the bonus item from the last attack. That's why you changed the plan…"

"Please…defeat...defeat the boss," Diabel said, closing his eyes. Kensei clenched his fists before yanking the potion from Kirito's hand, his other hand forcing Diabels' mouth open as the player began to fade out.

"You don't get to go out that easy, you prick," Kensei growled, forcing the potion down Diabel's throat, who tried to refuse it. He then punched Diabel, knocking him out. Kirito looked at him, shocked. "Hey, like I said, no need to be stingy with healing items," Kensei smirked. "I'll apologize to him later. Right now, though, we need to get in there," Kensei said. "I've got a skill that can get rid of his weapon. You and Asuna lure him over to me, alright? I'll get rid of his weapon and then you guys go in for the last hit."

"Right," Kirito said, nodding as he picked his sword back up, while Kensei opened up his inventory. Kirito looked confused as he watched Kensei scroll through his items, picking something. A pair of chainmail gloves appeared on his arms, reaching all the way up to his shoulders. "What the hell is that?"

"My weapons," Kensei smirked. "They haven't got the best grip in the world, but they'll at least let me keep my arms when I try to either take or break this thing's nodachi." He and Kirito ran forward, Asune joining them, Kensei running over his plan once more with her. "Alright guys, let's do this! Switch!" He said as he stopped, adopting the Reversal stance, his hands glowing blue again. He watched as Kirito threw Illfang's sword up, Asuna jumping in front to attack. His eyes widened when he saw Illfang recover quicker than normal, swinging at Asuna.

"Asuna!" Kirito yelled. The girl noticed the sword in time and ducked, her cloak torn to shreds to reveal she was a red headed teenager, her outfit a white dress and a red vest. She turned, quickly charging a different skill, landing her attack. Kirito and Asuna then began a short exchange with him, while Kensei concentrated on his own skill, putting more and more focus into it.

_Come on,_ he thought. _I need more power if I'm going to stop that thing's sword._ As the exchange continued, the glow on Kensei's hands began moving up his arms, reaching his shoulders. _Alright…I think that's good enough._ Out loud, he called to Asuna and Kirito. "Alright, I'm ready!" Kirito and Asuna slowly began giving ground, dragging Illfang closer to Kensei. "Now!" The two jumped to either side as Illfang swung its blade at Kensei. Kensei released a breath he didn't know he had been holding, his arms moving to catch the blade. He stopped it dead in its tracks, grunting as he felt Illfang's skill collide with his own. He moved his hands to increase the leverage on his side, pushing both his hands toward the sword. He put more strength into it, Illfang's grip loosening slowly. He looked at Kirito, his arms now shaking visibly, while the rest of the group watched Kensei in shock. "Don't…know how much longer," Kensei said between grit teeth. Kirito nodded, his sword glowing blue as he held it at his side, running at Illfang.

"Asuna, one last hit!" Kirito yelled. Asuna charged and hit Illfang with a thrust, knocking the boss off balance, while Kirito sliced into Illfang's left side, the sword cleaving through the creature and its right wrist, Kensei now holding the weapon by himself. He sighed in relief as Kirito gave a yell, reversing his sword's path to slice through Illfang's body once more, taking down the rest of its health. Kensei saw a screen pop up in front of Kirito as a cheer rose up from the group. A window appeared in front of him as well, informing him that his Reversal had been upgraded, asking him if wished to keep Illfang's nodachi. He shrugged, choosing yes, the weapon disappearing as it showed up in his inventory. The lighting in the room slowly dimmed as everyone slowly began to calm down, the thrill of the first boss fight still fresh in their minds.

"Good work." Kensei looked over to see Agil talking to Kirito. "You as well," Agil continued, nodding over to Kensei. "I've never seen anything like that." Kensei blushed a bit, rubbing the back of his head.

"Nah, it's nothin' special," he said, chuckling.

"Anyways," Agil said, looking back to Kirito. "This victory is yours."

"No," said a voice, everyone turning to look at Kibaou. "Why? Why did you let Diabel charge in like that? He almost died!" The group looked confused, Kibaou glaring angrily at Kirito.

"What are you talking about?" a player asked, Kibaou's glare sliding to them.

"What, didn't you hear him? He knew about that boss's technique!" Kibaou acused. "If you had told us about it right away, then that could have been avoided!" Kensei felt his fists clenching, wanting to hit Kibaou in the jaw. Meanwhile, the rest of the players were looking at each other before one angrily pointed at Kirito.

"He's a beta tester!" he said. "He knew all of the attack patterns! But he didn't tell us!" He took a step forward, now sweeping his arm across the group. "There are more of you here, aren't there?!" The players began eyeing each other suspiciously.

Kensei looked at Kirito, watching him as Agil tried to calm everyone down. Kirito then started to laugh, a low, dark tone to it. Kensei watched Kirito slowly stand up, turning to look at the group with a smirk. _The fuck are you doing, Kirito?_

"Don't compare me to those noobs," he said, looking right at Kibaou. "Most of those beta testers were just beginners. Hell, they barely even knew how to level up," he continued, walking through the group. "Tch. Even you guys are better than they are. But don't you ever compare me to them." Kirito stopped in front of Kibaou, glaring at him. "I made it higher than any player in the beta test."

_Okay, you have officially fucking lost it, Kirito_, Kensei thought to himself, frowning at his friend.

"I fought higher level monsters with katana skills. I know way more than any information broker does," Kirito said.

"W-what?" Kibaou asked, shocked. "That's…that's cheating. You're a cheater!"

"Yeah!" a voice said. "A beta tester and a cheater…you're a Beater!" Kirito laughed again.

"Beater…yeah, I like the sound of that," he said, Kibaou's jaw dropping a bit, while the player beside him took a step back from Kirito. Kirito opened up his menu, navigating to his inventory. "That's right…I'm a Beater." He chose something, a Coat of Midnight appearing on his character. "Don't forget that. It keeps me separate from those other testers." Kirito gave one last smirk as he walked back to the exit. He gave Kensei a genuine smile as he walked past, hidden from the other players. Kensei gave him a small nod of respect and appreciation, realization dawning in him as he finally understood just what Kirito's actions here would accomplish in the near future. Asuna ran past Kensei as Kirito made it to the door.

"Wait," she said, making it halfway up the stairs, stopping. Kirito stopped, but didn't look back at her. "You…you said my name as we were fighting…"

"Sorry for using just your first name." He turned his head a bit, looking at her with his peripheral vision. "Or maybe…I messed up the pronunciation of it?"

"Where did you learn it?"

Kirito turned his upper body to fully look at her. "There should be two more health bars about here," he said, using his pointer to show the location. "There ought to be something written beside them."

"Kirito…and Kensei," she said, looking back at Kensei, who smiled and waved. She looked back at Kirito and giggled a little, blushing in embarrassment, her hand resting under her chin in a fist. "So, they were there the whole time," she said.

"Listen," Kirito said, turning away from her. "You're going to be really strong. If someone you trust invites you to a guild…you should join them. There's a limit to what you can do on your own."

"And you?" she asked, putting her hand down.

Kirito opened his menu again, dissolving the party. Kirito then walked out of the room, the first player to enter the second floor. Kensei walked up, clapping his hand on Asuna's shoulder. "He certainly grows on you, Asuna," Kensei said, lowering his hand. "I sent you a friend request. I'll see you around." Kensei turned around, walking back to the first floor, opening up his inbox to send the message to his guild.

* * *

**Okay…so…I'm not really sure how this chapter feels to me. It's something, that's for sure. I'm trying to integrate my characters into the story naturally, but this is a lot harder for me than it is for most. I welcome constructive criticism on my stories, and this one is now exception. This is also the longest chapter uploaded for this story at this point in time. That is, November 7 of 2013. Just a side note, really.**


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